Indy corrects error about ‘humanitarian aid’ on Greta’s yacht

Last week, we posted about an Indy op-ed by Scarlett Westbrook (“Why my friend Greta Thunberg had no choice but to sail an aid boat to Gaza“, June 10) claiming that the ship which tried to break Israel’s legal naval blockade of the Hamas-run territorywas carrying 5,500 tonnes of crucial humanitarian aid”.

The Madleen is a UK-flagged civilian ship, part of the Freedom Flotilla that was en route to Gaza carrying 5,500 tonnes of crucial humanitarian aid – including baby formula, food and medical supplies.

As we argued in our communications with Indy editors, the “5,000 tonnes” of aid figure is from a previous flotilla, called the Conscience, which set sail from Turkey in April.  Thunberg’s boat, by contrast, only had, as the activists themselves admitted, a “symbolic” amount of aid.

Our complaint was upheld, and the “5,000 tonnes” figure removed. Here’s the new sentence:

The Madleen is a UK-flagged civilian ship, part of the Freedom Flotilla that was en route to Gaza carrying crucial humanitarian aid – including baby formula, food and medical supplies.

While we welcome the correction, unfortunately, editors declined to correct several other errors in the op-ed. You can read our post here for more details.

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